Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 83, Ed. 1 Friday, October 24, 2014 Page: 7 of 27
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8A
Friday, October 24, 2014
LOCAL
Denton Record-Chronicle
From Page 1A
Flags
get that settled. He wonders
whether removing the flags will
be a condition of fixing the prob-
lem with the certificate.
This isn’t the first time
Rheault and his business have
gotten crosswise with the city’s
Community Improvement Ser-
vices Division. Frenchy’s big or-
ange vans with their blue move-
able-letter signs had been a fix-
ture around the city, promoting
events and congratulating local
residents on their accomplish-
ments for many years.
Last year, some people com-
plained about uneven enforce-
ment of the city’s sign ordinance,
pointing to Frenchy’s vans
parked around the city as evi-
dence of uneven treatment. The
city investigated and eventually
wrote Rheault a citation for
parking his vans at two events.
He fought the ticket in munic-
ipal court but lost. He had to scale
back the mobile public service an-
nouncements he offers on his or-
ange vans. These days, drivers
have to travel past the yard on
Dallas Drive to see who might be
celebrating a birthday, whether
the animal shelter is full or what
charity event is coming up.
This latest dust-up with the
city isn’t sitting well with some
residents who appreciate the role
Rheault and his business play in
the community. People have been
tagging Rheault with posts of
support on Facebook, and a
Change.org petition received
1,700 signatures in 36 hours.
Scott Campbell took up the
cause on his blog, Dentoning-
.com, writing that the city is fol-
lowing up on the “constant and
petty” complaints of one person.
“Should the complaints of
one Denton citizen overrule the
fondness for Frenchy of the ma-
jority of Dentonites?” Campbell
wrote.
The Frenchy’s business re-
flects its owner’s eccentricities
and character, Campbell said.
“Denton has a reputation for
being ‘different,’” Campbell
wrote. ‘“North of Ordinary’ is
not just a slogan.”
Rheault has the option to get
a “wind devices” permit to be
able to keep flying flags, Ream
said.
“It would allow him to have
the flags 90 days out of the year,”
Ream said.
A company can fly a U.S.,
Texas and corporate flag on its
grounds without a special per-
mit. But more flags are consid-
ered “wind devices,” similar to
banners, pennants, streamers,
balloons, sky tubes and similar
devices used in outdoor promo-
tions, Ream said.
A business can apply for up
to three 30-day permits each
year, Ream said.
Rheault said he heard that an-
other exception might be in the
works for certain holidays. In that
case, he and others, such as the
American Legion or Rotary Club,
can fly more than one flag for up
to 72 hours over that holiday.
PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE
can be reached at 940-566-
6881 and via Twitter at
@phwolfeDRC.
From Page 1A
Grading
David Minton/DRC
Denton ISD parents and teachers listen to a presentation by
education author and consultant Tom Schimmer about the
new assessment practices and grading changes for the dis-
trict on Wednesday at Guyer High School.
tests and projects, known as ma-
jor summatives, but their grades
are not penalized for poor be-
havior or late, missing or incom-
plete homework. Students no
longer receive grades for home-
work and other assignments
deemed minor summatives.
However, they have opportuni-
ties to redo tests and research
papers if they say they’ve made
improvement by going to a tu-
tor, meeting with a teacher or
doing alternative assignments.
The major summatives
count 70 percent of an average
student’s grade, according to
DISD documents. Amajor sum-
mative is 80 percent of the grade
for students enrolled in Pre-Ad-
vanced Placement, AP and In-
ternational Baccalaureate clas-
ses. Per semester, the average of
the two grading periods count
80 percent of the final semester
grade, and the final exam counts
20 percent of the final semester
grade. The district anticipates
fully implementing the system
for the 2015-16 school year, ac-
cording to DISD documents.
“[It’s] not good. It’s just a
nightmare,” Webster said. “It’s
an endless cycle of feeling like
I’m not worth the grades I’ve
earned my entire life.”
She said she’s not alone, add-
ing that many of her peers have
given up and feel they’re in a bat-
tle that can’t be won.
“It just makes me feel like I’m
file problem, and students
shouldn’t be made to feel that way”
Webster said “This program is
[supposed] to instill confidence.
“None of us [students] want
to goto schoolbecause we feel like
we’re not learning. If the district’s
purpose is to serve the students,
then they’re failing miserably.”
Webster said she would like
to see secondary schools return
to the grading policy prior to the
one implemented this fall. She
said she also would like to see
that not all grades for a student
rest on a test. Webster said she
intends to apply for the Texas
Academy of Mathematics and
Science at the University of
North Texas this year, where nu-
merical grades are closely re-
viewed during the application
process. DISD’s new grading
system, she said, has put her in
an unfair position.
Tom Schimmer, an educa-
tion author and consultant with
expertise in the standards-based
grading system Denton is in the
process of implementing, gave a
presentation on the research
and history of the system during
Wednesday night’s discussion.
Schimmer said that he’s worked
with DISD educators approxi-
mately six days over the course
of the last two to three years. Ul-
timately, the goal of the practices
is for students to be optimistic
about their learning, he said.
Toward the end of his pre-
sentation, tensions boiled over
among those in attendance.
Following a question-and-an-
swer session with Schimmer, par-
ents were able to hear about the
implementation of the grading
policy in middle schools and high
schools through breakout ses-
sions. Administrators and educa-
tors from the district’s seven mid-
dle schools and its three compre-
hensive high schools were present
at each of the breakout sessions to
discuss implementation of the
policy on their campus, answer
questions and to hear parent and
student concerns.
It was more than five hours
after the meeting’s initial start
time that the last breakout ses-
sion concluded.
Throughout some of the ses-
sions, parents expressed concern
about their children being over-
loaded with information. They al-
so expressed concerns about over-
emphasis on testing how the sys-
tem is being implemented and
how the nine-week grading sys-
tem impacts University Inter-
scholastic League eligibility.
Parents said that in some
classes students are receiving
“zero feedback,” and that some
students who generally made
straight As are now coming
home with 30s and are dis-
traught. Parents with students
in the 11th and 12th grades ex-
pressed concern about how the
policy could negatively impact
children who are applying for
college and scholarships or at-
tempting to graduate.
One teacher during the
Guyer session said that since im-
plementation of the new grad-
ing policy, it’s the most stressed
she’s seen students, teachers and
herself, and it’s unfair.
Another educator said hav-
ing a line of students standing
outside her classroom for reas-
sessment makes her feel like a
failure.
Deborah Donley is the moth-
er of a middle school student
and a high school student. She
said Schimmer’s presentation
“clearly identified” what the dis-
trict is implementing. She sat in
on the Crownover Middle
School breakout session after-
ward, she said. That’s where she
has the most concern, she said.
Donley said her sixth-grader
goes to school at 7:45 a.m. for tu-
torials and to retake tests. Hav-
ing to redo tests over and over
has been “very trying” on her
son, she said.
“I do feel this is a little too
much for an 11-year-old,” Donley
said. “For me, I don’t enjoy com-
ing home and listening to my
son tell me that, ‘Mom, we took
an assessment today and half
the class failed it — they’re not
getting it.’
“It’s heartbreaking when
your kids come home and they
say their grades are tanking. It’s
heartbreaking as a parent.”
Donley said she knows teach-
ers are doingtheir best, but imple-
mentation of the new grading sys-
tem is “just not working.”
She said she would like to see
students go back to doing home-
work and receiving daily grades.
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MON-SAT 10-9 • SUN 12-6
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15th Annual
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Saturday, October 25 • 11:30—1:30
St Andrew Presbyterian Church
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Donley said she feels students
are not receiving the “ample am-
munition to be successful on a
test” because there’s no home-
work or assignments to practice
at home.
One parent said the district
had “great intentions,” but the
system is not working.
When DISD officials were
asked by a parent Wednesday
why implementation of the sec-
ondary school grading system
was made “with little or no col-
laboration with parents and stu-
dents,” administrators admitted
it was a mistake.
“Whenever we make deci-
sions, we make changes, we
chart a course and go in that di-
rection or just change the
course, we try to make the best
decisions that we can,” said Da-
vid Hicks, the district’s executive
director for secondary academic
programs. “Looking back in the
conversations that I’ve had with
our administrators, the teachers,
with parents, with some kids, we
should have done a better job
with that communication.
‘We should have had more
conversation^] with more people.”
Absent from Wednesday’s
meeting was Denton ISD Super-
intendent Jamie Wilson. Accord-
ing to Hicks, Wilson was out of
town at a previously scheduled
engagement Hicks said that rath-
er than reschedule and “put off”
the discussion, it was decided that
it should continue as scheduled in
Wilson’s absence.
“Where’s Dr. Wilson?” a par-
ent called out during the Guyer
session. “He should be here.
Kids are suffering, and he
should be here!”
Donley said she wished Wil-
son had been there to address
parent concerns.
Via a Twitter response, par-
ent Cheryl Hassell said she loved
the grading practices for her
children.
“All grades are academic,” she
wrote. “Late work is penalized
with non-academic conse-
quences.”
Parents in the Guyer break-
out session demanded a date for
when they could hear a response
from the district on changes.
Hicks said earlier in the evening
that in the case where district offi-
cials see a “lack of clarity” and confi-
dence, things will need adjusting.
Later, he said administrative
officials intend to take the feed-
back received Wednesday back
to the curriculum and instruc-
tion department and make ad-
justments to the grading system.
He said they will meet quickly
and send out a response to par-
ents electronically and by phone
on what action the district in-
tends to take.
Hicks said in a comment on
Thursday he and his team are
working to address the issues
brought up from the meeting.
“We began working last night
to synthesize the information
that was communicated by par-
ents, teachers and students,”
Hicks said. “Over the course of
the next few days, we will be
meeting to identify short and
long-term action items that will
best address the existing con-
cerns and establish a process for
ongoing communication.”
BRITNEY TABOR can be
reached at 940-566-6876 and
via Twitter at @BritneyTabor.
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Denton Community Band
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the CITY OF DENTON,
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 83, Ed. 1 Friday, October 24, 2014, newspaper, October 24, 2014; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1124985/m1/7/?q=%22~1~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .